Made in India mobile phone sales touch over 74 per cent, imports go down

India has witnessed a significant sales growth of over 74 per cent, up from 70 per cent in 2016, of mobile phones manufactured in the country. The number was just 19 per cent during the financial year 2014.

Most of the manufacturing units only act as assembly lines since a major part of the components that go into making a handset are not available in the country.

The data, which was compiled by research firm Counterpoint, suggests that the biggest manufacturing units are Chinese.

It is estimated that the total import bill made by finished mobile phones in the country have been drastically down to $3.4 billion in 2017 and is likely to fall further to $2 billion in 2018.

The imports of mobile phones like the Google Pixel 2 or the iPhone X is continuously going down from the past years. In 2014, it was 205 million to 77 million in 2017 and is expected to fall even more to 31 million in 2018.

However, the import bill is expected to rise to $13.3 billion in 2018, which had risen from $12.6 billion in 2017 and $11 billion in 2016.

The value of components imported to India have risen down to $11.4 billion and the domestic value addition have also decreased to 18 per cent.

Meanwhile, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi has emerged as the winner amongst the Chinese phone maker companies in India.

Besides, it also witnessed its market growth in India throughout the year 2017 with its sales quadrupled in September quarter and accounted for 24 percent of India’s smartphone market while as Samsung also controls 24 percent of the market in the country and registered quarter-on-quarter growth of 39 percent.

The launch of multiple models in sub-Rs 5,000-7,000 range by smartphone brands and cheap 4G data accessibility with Reliance Jio are making hundreds of million of people in India to make a transition from feature phone to the smartphones.

About Author

Shamshad Ali is working as a technology-based content writer with Entrackr. With keen interest in technology, startups, politics and life style, Shamshad started his career in 2013. Prior to joining Entrackr, he has covered politics for various news agencies and local dailies such as IANS, PTI, ANI, The Kashmir Monitor.